In the middle of September 2014, two windsurfers are launching their equipment on the Baltic Sea beach near Ummanz in the late afternoon: "Let's take a trip to the island of Hiddensee". The offshore Baltic Sea island is only five kilometres away, the water is still warm at 17 degrees and the wind is blowing constantly from the north-east at five to six force. A half-wind over and back is actually a matter of a quarter of an hour - as if you were sailing across Lake Garda and back in a full Ora.
Only one arrives on Hiddensee, the second, a surfer from Leipzig, falls and injures himself on the way. His colleague continues on alone to get help. As always in such cases, the sea rescuers are called. Time is pressing because daylight is running out. At around 8.15 p.m., two sea rescue boats set off for the search area, also involving police units and a DLRG boat in the search. The fact that the surfer emerged shortly after half past nine in complete darkness, standing in the cone of the searchlight up to his chest in water, was due to a large portion of luck and the experience of the sea rescuers - because they were able to narrow down the search area, taking into account wind and current conditions as well as the depth of the water, so that they were able to find the disorientated and completely hypothermic surfer despite the darkness. His body temperature had already dropped to 34.6 degrees and he would probably not have survived the night in the water.
Basic tension is part of the job for sea rescuers
It's thanks to men like Stefan Prahl that such situations often end without too much trouble. For over 20 years, the prototype of a North German - tall, friendly and somewhat taciturn - has been on duty on the "Hans Hackmack" rescue cruiser stationed in Grömitz. As part of a crew of four, consisting of two navigators and two technicians, he spends two weeks at a time on board the 23-metre-long ship. "One shift," says Prahl, "lasts 14 days. You sleep, cook and eat on board and always have to be ready to set sail within a few minutes. After changing shifts, you then have two weeks off in a row," says Prahl, describing his day-to-day work. What happens during these 14 days depends on many factors: Wind, weather and often chance: "Sometimes nothing happens for days, then suddenly it's back to business as usual. You can never be sure, there is always a certain amount of tension," says Prahl.
Prahl is one of the 180 permanently employed sea rescuers who work for the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS). There are also over 800 voluntary sea rescuers. A lot has changed since the organisation was founded in Kiel in 1865 following a series of serious shipwrecks. While the first sea rescuers still had to fight their way through storms and waves for hours to reach the scene of the accident in rowing boats, today they have a fleet of 60 cruisers and lifeboats behind them, spread across 54 stations - from Borkum in the west to Ueckermünde near the Polish border. Only the organisation's financing concept has remained the same after 150 years: Thanks to 300,000 sponsors, the organisation's entire financial requirements of a good 40 million euros per year are covered entirely by private donations.
Travelling on a rescue cruiser is no fun
When an emergency call arrives at the rescue coordination centre in Bremen, the rescue coordination centre alerts the nearest DGzRS station. Stephan Prahl's team then gets things moving an average of 60 times a year in what can sometimes seem like a rather cosy day. Then the 2700 hp diesel engines are fired up and, if necessary, the control lever is put on the table. The "Hans Hackmack" then sails through the Bay of Lübeck at speeds of up to 24 knots.
Anyone who has the romantic image of a cruiser leisurely cutting through the waves in mind will soon be disappointed on board - on the one hand because the short and steep waves of the Baltic Sea give the cruiser a good shake, and on the other because the ship's design has little to do with that of other types of vessel. "Sea rescue cruisers like this one," explains engineer Stephan Litschen, "despite their shallow draught of just 1.6 metres, must be able to right themselves if they are overturned by large breakers in a storm. To ensure that this works, they are designed to stand on their own two feet. In normal use, however, this means that every swell produces very hard and fast movements of the ship. So they are no fun to use on the open sea."
Even if you make it to the beach yourself, you should inform the rescuers
Regular training is organised to ensure that everything runs smoothly in an emergency. Drills are held several times a year, during which the rescuers have to master unfamiliar situations and also cooperate with rescue organisations from neighbouring countries. Afterwards, everything is evaluated and processes are optimised. Nevertheless, everyday working life always has the unexpected in store. For example, while searching for a missing surfer in the Bay of Lübeck, another windsurfer was found by chance. "Then," says Stefan Prahl, "you think the problem is solved and are shocked to realise that the originally missing surfer is still out there.
The reason for such mix-ups is often that many observers completely misjudge distances on the water and our information is initially thin on the ground at the start of an operation. Time and again, we also find abandoned surf equipment or kites that have been let go without an emergency call being made. Then, of course, we don't know where the surfer is at the moment - safely on the beach or somewhere on the water. So it helps if you notify us even if you have made it back to the beach without our help. There is also the chance that you will get your lost equipment back," Prahl explains the problem.
A short e-mail with a description of the material, a telephone number and the location of the loss to the e-mail address mrcc@seenotretter.de is sufficient. But please note: An emergency alert should always be raised immediately by telephone or radio, never by e-mail! The central number should always be used to raise the alarm in an emergency.0421-5368 70 can be contacted around the clock. This number should be stored in every water sports enthusiast's mobile phone.
The DGzRS also offers special stickers for wings and boards. If someone finds equipment at sea or on land, the sea rescuers can make contact and determine more easily whether there is an emergency situation. This saves time, avoids unnecessary searches and ultimately ensures that lost equipment is returned. Kiters and surfers can order the practical sticker set, which can be removed without a trace, for their personal use from the sea rescuers free of charge via the website.
Helping each other at sea
However, drifting surfers only make up a small proportion of the missions. Dirk Hinners-Stommel, Head of the Maritime Rescue Centre in Bremen, estimates that rescuers are called out around 70 to 100 times a year for this reason. The "rest" is evenly distributed - from spectacular operations such as on the 200-metre-long ferry "Lisco Gloria", which caught fire off Fehmarn in October 2010, to stranded sailors and dogs that have fallen into the water, the sea rescuers are responsible for everything.
"At sea," says Stefan Prahl, "the iron law of mutual aid still applies. Strictly speaking, every vessel, whether sailing boat or cruise ship, is obliged to provide assistance." When rescuing people, rescue cruisers such as the "Hans Hackmack" carry a smaller daughter boat piggyback. Once released, this boat rushes from the stern of the cruiser into the water and can then reach the scene of the accident or people floating in the water much more quickly and carefully than the large cruiser.
"Rescue from distress at sea is always free of charge," explains Dirk Hinners-Stommel, head of the rescue coordination centre. "However, we charge a maximum of 400 euros for technical assistance where there was no immediate danger." The question remains as to whether the sea rescuers question the appropriateness and proportionality of some missions, for example when, as in August 2015, the owner of a sick dog alerted the rescuers because his animal had to be rushed to the doctor on land? "No," answers Prahl without hesitation. "We can't and don't want to answer the question of how much an operation costs, whether something is proportionate or whether, for example, a surfer in distress negligently caused his own emergency situation because he went out on the water alone in an offshore wind. Our job is to help, no matter who needs help. That's it."
Extreme situations for the rescuers
The fact that this professional attitude also means danger for the crew in extreme situations is part of the occupational hazard. Burning freighters with unknown cargo or the search for missing persons at night and during storms require a great deal of caution. In such cases, everyone on board wears a special lifejacket that is equipped with an emergency radio transmitter and position light and can be easily located if a crew member goes overboard in the dark.
This would probably not have helped the sea rescuers of the cruisers "Adolph Bermpohl" and "Alfried Krupp" either - their ships were wrecked in the hurricane nights off Helgoland in 1967 and in the German Bight in 1995.
